MEDIA APPEARANCE: "Connecting With Classics" Episode 8: "Lawrence of Arabia"

Closing out the main summer months with the August pick of the Feelin' Film Podcast "Connecting With Classics" series, host Aaron White and I needed to carve out some serious committed time to absorb and appreciate the longest film ever to win the Best Picture Oscar. That revered classic and victor is the 56-year-old Lawrence of Arabia from director David Lean and it has a lengthy resume of accolades, rankings, and awards Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the definition of a true Hollywood epic.

2018, Media Appearance, MOVIE REVIEW, Podcast, Social Media, SPECIALDon ShanahanAugust 31, 2018VertigoComment

MEDIA APPEARANCE: Minisode podcast guest for "Feelin' Film" to review "Searching"

If you follow my social media shingles, you know I can't stop and won't stop stumping for this film. Searching is an incredible combination of innovative filmmaking, anxiety-inducing thrills, emotionally complex characters, and relevant commentary on the internet as both a danger and potential tool for good. Feelin' Film co-creator Aaron White and I were both floored by writer/director Aneesh Chaganty’s debut feature film and John Cho’s performance in it, so we sat down for a conversation about what makes the film so special. Enjoy this excellent conversation with all the feels and kudos!

2018, CAPSULE REVIEW, Film Festival, Independent Film, Media Appearance, MOVIE REVIEW, Podcast, Social MediaDon ShanahanAugust 31, 2018Comment

MOVIE REVIEW: Searching

The entirety of this daring film is presented through the layers of screens across computer desktops, video streams, and a mouse pointer that moves like a scalpel over those pixelated surfaces. The effect is addictively scintillating to create harrowing emotional triggers. Call it a gimmick all you want, but be prepared to be dazzled and proven wrong by the astonishing narrative construction and visual storytelling conduits. True to both the lurid intensity and exceeding excellence of the dictionary definition, Searching is downright sensational

MOVIE REVIEW: Pickings

Watching the death-dealing retribution and grudge-settling on display definitely shows the dishonesty part, but you will find nothing easy enough to be called “pickings.” Oozing all kinds of artistic flamboyance and crimson damage, this film is a straight punch to the face that has to swing hard to to knock you out. Like any punch, the hand delivering it stings as much as the cheek that receiving it. Sure enough, Pickings is a punch you’ll take and ask for another.

2018, 4 STARS, Independent Film, MOVIE REVIEW, Video on DemandDon ShanahanAugust 9, 2018 Comments

MOVIE REVIEW: The Meg

Smirking and confident in its own bristly sharkskin armor, The Meg is as lean a blockbuster as you will find. Any fat is trimmed quickly by the urge to chomp up more people and scenery. Since this go-big-or-go-home late summer IMAX sizzler is a creature feature B-movie dependent on a carnivorous buffet of victims (and customers) to satiate its excitement (and bottom line), the loving focus for this critique will be the types and cuts of meat consumed and on display. Tuck your monster movie napkin into shirt collar, skip the hoity-toity hand sanitizer, and bring your creative kill appetite to an entertaining little film feast.

MOVIE REVIEW, 2018, 3 STARSDon ShanahanAugust 8, 2018 Comments

MOVIE REVIEW: BlacKkKlansman

The slogan of Spike Lee’s long-time production company 40 Acres and a Mule Filmwork is “by any means necessary,” a tagline that could not be more fitting of the urgency and purpose of Spike’s works. Nothing he puts his effort into ends up empty or meaningless. His lightning rod flair singes silver screens again with Cannes Film Festival Grand Prix prize winner BlacKkKlansman, stoking a p

2018, 4 STARS, ADVANCE MOVIE REVIEW, Film Festival, Independent Film, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanAugust 7, 2018AMC River East 21Comment

MOVIE REVIEW: The Captain

Writer-director Robert Schwentke has boldly moved away from schlock (R.I.P.D., RED) and softness (The Time Traveler’s Wife) for something visceral and chillingly raw. As Herold shows no quarter, neither does Schwentke and this film’s penchant for discomfort. The events portrayed are so imprudently berserk that it borders on unbelievable farce, despite its cited historical inspiration of the man who performed these acts before he was even 21 years old.

2017, 2018, 4 STARS, Foreign Film, Independent Film, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanAugust 3, 2018Music Box TheatreComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Christopher Robin

The messages wrapped up by this movie’s soft spirit may be achingly sympathetic and predictable simple. Things are better when the many Milne stories and adaptations of this wonderment can still offer timeless reminders very suitable and highly beneficial for both the parental and youthful generations of filmgoers today that could use a little slowdown and imaginative play. Foibles aside, Christopher Robin is an unapologetic heart-melter. Earnestness comes easy and there is a place and, even better, a need, for this in the cinema marketplace.

2018, 3 STARS, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanAugust 3, 2018AMC River East 21Comment

MEDIA APPEARANCE: "Connecting With Classics" Episode 7: "Vertigo"

Aaron White and I have been circling Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo for months, ever since it officially celebrated its 60th anniversary on May 9th. Next to Casablanca, it’s probably the highest regarded film “Connecting With Classics” will present in this series during this inaugural year of 2018. We here dive into the AFI’s Top 100, but Vertigo sits atop "The 50 Greatest Films of Time" as voted on by the British Film Institute’s Sight and Sound magazine. Ladies and gentlemen, they don’t get much better than this.

2018, Media Appearance, MOVIE REVIEW, Podcast, Social Media, SPECIALDon ShanahanJuly 29, 2018VertigoComment

MEDIA APPEARANCE: Returning to "Black Panther" as a guest on the "Kicking the Seat" podcast

About six months ago, the unofficial "Comics Council" guest dais of Ian Simmons' Kicking the Seat podcast sung the praises of Ryan Coogler's Black Panther. We knew then during that episode that we just watched something special that was going to explode and resonate with audiences beyond the multiplex. Sure, enough we were right. Ian, David Fowlie of Keeping It Reel, Emmanuel Noisette of E-Man's Movie Reviews, and myself made a pact then to revisit the film and expand on our first discussion. Welcome to our returning second spin, this time collected via Skype, with the Wakandan King and all his victorious results.

MOVIE REVIEW: Mission: Impossible - Fallout

The wow factor will always bring eager action junkies to a Mission: Impossible film. This one earns your admission price and then some with some of the best set pieces, fight sequences, and chase scenes in the franchise’s history. It’s all pure finesse. Impressiveness notwithstanding, it’s the intelligent cleverness of each entry as a spy flick that keeps audiences coming back for seconds. This series has only gotten stronger thanks to the healthy spacing of releases, trajectory of continuity, and established character anchors started by J.J. Abrams 12 years ago.

ADVANCE MOVIE REVIEW, MOVIE REVIEW, 2018Don ShanahanJuly 25, 2018Comment

FANTASIA 2018 REVIEW: The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then The Bigfoot

You will color yourself impressed by the unexpected power of this independent to subvert expectations with such cunning dexterity. No matter if it’s zero budget devil-may-care freedom or a nine-figure open blockbuster checkbook, few movies on any level could ever dream a way this damn good to marry and blend stoic manliness and a whimsical romance on top of the lurid exploits its title advertises. The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then The Bigfoot punches with pulp and grinds gravitas rather than gore.

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